The present invention relates to electronic price label (EPL) systems used in transaction establishments, and more specifically to an electronic price label including a noisemaker and a method of locating EPLs.
EPL systems typically include a plurality of EPLs for each merchandise item in a store. EPLs typically display the price of corresponding merchandise items on store shelves and are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of the shelves. A store may contain thousands of EPLs to display the prices of the merchandise items. The EPLs are coupled to a central server from where information about the EPLs is typically maintained in an EPL data file. Price information displayed by the EPLs is obtained from the PLU file.
EPLs today may be wired or wireless. Wireless EPLs may employ infrared or radio frequency transmitters to transmit acknowledgment signals acknowledging receipt of messages and to relay acknowledgment signals from other EPLs to receiving devices coupled to a main EPL computer. An EPL only sends an acknowledgment if the message is addressed to it.
Over time, EPLs may be displaced from their mounting brackets. A customer or store employee may intentionally or unintentionally remove an EPL. In any case, the store must locate and reinstall the displaced EPLs, or determine that they are not in the store and replace them.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an electronic price label including a noisemaker and a method of locating and EPL using the noisemaker.